Story Boards and Shot Lists

[Robert Gardner]

Hi there,

I just had a general question about story boards and shot lists. Who is creating the shot list on a feature film. Will it be left soley to the DP, or has the director a big impact? The same with story boards, will the director sit together with a story board artist and the DP and discuss every singel shot, or is it left to the DP to make those decisions.

I was just curios how those things are handeld on big productions? As for me working on short films, I mainly create my own shot lists after having intense conversations with the director.

Any thoughts on that would be great.

Cheers,

Rob

[Bob Hayes]

Shot lists and story boards are generally created by the director. On larger shows a story board artist may take the director?s vision and create slicker more accurate drawings. Because the really talented storyboard guys are accurately portraying lenses and angles they are doing much of the work of a DP. I don?t think DP?s are consulted as much as they should be in this step of film production.

[Chris Durham]

With the advent of previz software there's a big call for a change in the way things are done. Traditionally, when storyboards are used, the director will work with the storyboard artist to go through shot by shot. Depending on the director this might be a strict blueprint or a broad visualization guideline; but I don't think it treads on the DP's work at all because ideally a DP will be a partner of the director whose job it is to capture the director's vision on film - so the storyboard or the shot list is just a tool to organize the directorial vision.

 

with previz, however, there is a real opportunity - and perhaps even a necessity, owing to the three-dimensional nature of previz modeling - for the DP to get involved. These days you can plot out camera placement, lighting plots, even lens choices ahead of time; and I think you will begin to see DPs utilized earlier and earlier in preproduction in the future.

[Dan Salzmann]

Generally the shot list is put together by the director and AD. Sometimes they make the storyboard, sometimes a storyboard artist is used. I find that storyboards serve as rough guides because there are so many variables that can change. That being said, storyboards seem to be the most adhered to when SFX post work is part of the project. I've never found a shot list or storyboard intrusive at all. I think that the more the director thinks out the film in advance the better. If there is something on either that requires clarification or discussion then the director and I talk about it.

[Tony Brown]

...and the first thing you get told is " forget the storyboard......"

[James Steven Beverly]

Hitchcock, however, followed his storyboards religously. You could litterally watch his film before he shot a sngle frame just by looking at his storyboards. He always came in on time, underbudget and his work was perhaps the greatest in film history, but of course, not everyone is capible of doing what Hitchcock could. B)

[Tony Brown]

Hitchcock, however, followed his storyboards religously.

 

Spielberg used to also.....

 

Its really dull though to follow storyboards, I hate turning up for work knowing exactly what we will be doing.....

[Ram Shani]

tony i watch your work and let me say WOW WOW WOW

 

you are very talented DP your images are one of the most beautiful and daring i ever saw on commercials

 

i know that commercial are very much preplan not just for the shooting but also for the ad agency and for the client to approve

 

were you as a DP find your self in term of impute about light, composition, "look"

 

how much neutral is your footage ( color ,contrast) and how much done in post and are you there to supervise?

 

i ask because i have problem that more then often i lose control over the images in the post because every one fill free to do what they like in term of CC

 

and ask me to bring "clean" "natural" footage

 

and when i see it on TV i go :(

[Tony Brown]

and when i see it on TV i go :(

 

Thank you very much. Many contributory factors go into what you see..... I am a cog in the machine. DoP's who maintain total control from start to finish are either genius or not very busy :lol: The Director I work mainly with is a very very good Photographer, so ideas and execution are so much easier when there are no wavelength issues. Also so important is consistency of TK. Although I rarely shoot in the UK, I never have one lights done, process only. Rushes are transferred 'best light' in London by people who know the work inside out, fine grade is then done by (IMO) one of the best TK operators I've ever worked with who has a great relationship with the director who supervises all the work.

 

Its all about having a consistent relationship with people, outside of that comfort zone and I too, cringe when I see things on TV.......

 

I control in camera as much as possible, but it depends on the project how far you can go. I'll often steer the look a certain direction, but if there is any sense of nervousness then you are duty bound to make it retrievable...

 

I'd also say that everything is not always cast in stone in commercials, thats dependent on the skill of the director. Shots can be apparently specific, yet when it comes to the moment can be extremely flexible, it comes down to bottle (nerve) and the trust that an Agency, but more usually the client, has in a Director and the team. Clients almost invariably side with a Director against an agency, how the Director works this advantage is the key and to a large degree a big factor in his talent rating.

 

IMHO

[Ram Shani]

maybe whats so hard for me is the fact that i put so much in the process and the by a turn of a knob ones can change everything

 

maybe in this term i not so pro:)